A new study has found that Europe is using up natural resources so quickly that the planet’s ability to replenish itself over the year would have been exhausted by May 2019, if everyone consumed as much. This is a stark comparison to 1961, when Europe was able to live sustainably until October.
In fact, it would take 2.8 planets to extend the EU’s rate of consumption food, fuels, fibres, land and timber to all the world’s people, according to data from the WWF and the Global Footprint Network.
A panel from the UN has issued a warning that the scale and pace of biodiversity loss is threatening human society. According to Ester Asin, the Director of the WWF’s European Policy Office, “EU Overshoot Day is a stark reminder that EU consumption is contributing to the Earth’s looming ecological and climate collapse. This is not only irresponsible, it is outright dangerous. Urgent action is needed, and EU leaders must summon the political will to treat this situation as an emergency and set us on a path towards a sustainable future for Europe.”
WWF’s Overshoot Day for the earth as a whole is due around August 2019, but the date keeps moving earlier and earlier each year. This day is calculated by averaging the ecological footprint of citizens in each country and comparing it with the earth’s annual biocapacity to restore its depleted natural resources.
